U.S. Pat. No. 3,386,558 issued June 4, 1968 for "Feeder Mechanism" and owned by the assignee of this invention discloses a rotatable feeder mechanism utilizing suction cups for engaging and withdrawing carton blanks from a hopper. Such blanks ordinarily are formed of semi-rigid paperboard and are thus adapted for manipulation by suction cups in a desired manner.
Open-ended sleeve type plastic carriers of the type to which this invention is applicable are formed of flexible film and thus are not well adapted for manipulation by suction cups.